Court Finds Jokowi, Anies Baswedan Violate Law Related to Air Pollution

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The panel of judges of the Central Jakarta District Court issued a ruling today that President Joko Jokowi Widodo and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan violated the law regarding the capital city’s air pollution. The court also found that the Environment and Forestry Minister, Home Affairs Minister, and Health Minister neglected the same rule.

Chief Justice Saifuddin Zuhri assessed that the defendants had been negligent in fulfilling the people’s right to a clean and healthy environment in Jakarta. However, the panel of judges rejected the petition from the plaintiffs who requested that the defendants be proven to have violated human rights.

“The defendants are declared to have committed an act against the law without being declared to have violated human rights,” said the judge in today’s trial, September 16.

The court ordered President Jokowi to establish a national air quality standard to protect human health, the environment, and the ecosystem. The Environment Ministry was required to supervise the Governors of West Java, Jakarta, and Banten to inventory cross-border emissions in their respective regions.

The Home Affairs Minister, meanwhile, was asked to supervise and assist Jakarta Governor in controlling air pollution. The Health Minister was also required to calculate deteriorating impacts on public health due to air pollution. “As a basis for defendant V (Anies) to design strategies and mitigate the air pollution,” the court read.

Additionally, the panel of judges sentenced Anies Baswedan to oversee public compliance with the laws and regulations on air pollution control and or environment.

The verdict reading was that of the citizen lawsuit over Jakarta's air pollution to the Central Jakarta District Court registered on Thursday, July 4, 2019. The panel of judges had postponed the verdict reading eight times due to various reasons.

Read: Anies Baswedan: Bougainville Is Pollution Absording Plant

ADAM PRIREZA